Drawing on the Right Side

I have been working through Betty Edwards' book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain and last night I drew my second self-portrait. When I sat down, I kept thinking that I couldn't do it, I would feel badly afterward when I saw how awful it would be, I don't have enough time.... you get the picture.

I got all my materials together and sat looking at the sketch pad, thinking of excuses not to do anything, then I remembered some of the exercises to help stop the chatter in my Left Brain (ego-mind? per Tolle?). After a few minutes of R-directed sketching (looking at my hand and sketching all the little wrinkles without looking at the paper), I settled down and just started on the self-portrait.

Well, it's not a piece of fine art, but it is absolutely amazing to me!! It just came off the page as I erased, considered negative space, measured and calibrated, but did not - I repeat, did not - ever draw a nose, never drew the typical line creating the edge of my face, never actually drew the eyes. I shaded, erased out highlights, shaded, cross-hatched....well, it was sort of like magic because there it was, suddenly before me.

This whole thing amazes me - it is so clear to me that the monkey chatter in the L-directed mind continually pushes out the creative, intuitive, holistic R-directed mind.

Right Brain vs. Left Brain

I have been learning to draw using the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, by Betty Edwards. It is an intentional interdisciplinary study, using art to learn more about brain hemisphere function. I have completed about 2/3 of the book.

One of the things that fascinates me is how Edwards uses exercises to "shut off" left brain thinking - language and analysis. I struggle to motivate myself to read the chapters and to prepare for the lessons, but I'm always pleasantly surprised by the results. It isn't easy, however, to turn off that monkey mind in order to bypass the language and get to the vision. Once I do - seeing the reality of what's in front of me rather than the shortcut symbols I've used since childhood, I can actually replicate them in a reasonable fashion on paper. I am convinced that I could do so even better if I took the time to practice from lesson to lesson. Why do I struggle to get into it - must be my left brain dragging its feet!

Interestingly, this brings me to connect the brain hemisphere struggle to what Eckhart Tolle refers to as ego mind in The Power of Now. There is always the interference of analysis and mind-talk getting in the way of meditation and Presence. As I lay awake for hours last night, telling myself to relax, stop thinking, and to meditate, I experienced the usual inability to turn off my mind. Is that ego mind or a powerfully trained left-brain? Or, are they the same thing?

It is clear from experience and from reading Betty Edwards that left brain development dominates educational experience in our society. We "want" students to analyze, to articulate, to think through....In fact, in the Vermont State Portfolio system, students are required to write narratives describing the process by which they solve mathematics problems. Left brain, left brain, left brain!! What about the right brain? What about the creative, intuitive, relational, and holistic left brain? Are we letting ourselves and our children down by focusing primarily on the left? And...are we lessening the possibility of experiencing the sense of Presence that Tolle (and so many others) promote by cultivating left brain thinking (is that where ego mind lives?) and ignoring the right?

Flow experiences, as explained by Csikszentmihalyi, are when we are so engaged in activities that match our interests and capabilities that we become deeply absorbed and lose track of time and emotion. These are times we reflect upon as fulfilling our passions. In order to be in the time-free mode, it seems that we are in right-brain mode. And, even if we are deeply involved in analysis or writing, I think it must be in full collaboration between the two brain hemispheres.

Therefore, it seems logical to think that the more we cultivate right brain thinking, the more we are likely to experience flow, Presence, and creative silence. I think I'll get back to my art class...

Dialogue Education

I am an independent degree program student, which is great because I have designed a program of study based on my own interests. I study holistic health and there is no end to what there is to learn and directions to go with study. I work full time on top of my college study, so this has been a great way to learn what is exciting to me and to work toward a college degree. The one drawback is that there is no one to talk with about these great concepts. So, I'm starting this blog in the hopes that I may find someone who shares my interests and will engage in discussion, challenge ideas, share different perspectives, and get me out of my own mind.

I'll open the conversation with some thoughts about a book I read recently by Dawna Markova entitled Open Mind: Exploring the 6 Patterns of Natural Intelligence.

There are many theories of personality and learning styles. I am most familiar with the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI), from inventories and workshops in various employment activities throughout my life. I have also been exposed to information about learning styles and multiple intelligences theory during my experience working in elementary education. Markova, however, introduced me to a new concept of learning styles based on levels of consciousness. Her theory is that individuals take in information in every way: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. Where most learning style theories determine one primary mode in which individuals perceive the world, Markova explains that we gather information on a conscious level (beta), a subconscious level (alpha), and an unconscious level (theta). The classic three forms of learning are incorporated in each of these levels. For example, as I understand my own learning styles, I fall into Markova’s category of AVK – or, auditory on the beta level, visual on the alpha level, and kinesthetic on the theta level. I determine this because I am most conscious of learning when I am in dialogue, thus the auditory channel is engaged. More subconsciously, I reinforce learning through visual cues, such as diagrams, pictures, and charts, or visual stimulus in the world around me. Finally, at the theta, or deepest level of consciousness, where the mind is “most capable of understanding the whole of something, the big picture, the widest landscape, this is also the place of deepest spiritual connection and healing, of that elusive inner voice or insight or gut feeling” (p. 29) I engage in learning through kinesthetic activity. I relax into epiphanies and inner peace through walking meditation, yoga, or even solitary exercise.

The theories of natural learning, as described by Markova, interest me for a variety of reasons. It seems logical to recognize that humans learn on many levels and in many ways, rather than to think that we are primarily one-faceted learners. Beyond that, however, is a connection I make to Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE), or the tendency to attribute our own behaviors to situational causes but others’ actions as being caused by character flaws, particularly in the case of negative behaviors. If Markova’s theories are true, FAE may be exacerbated by misunderstandings of how others perceive the world, or learn. In other words, because I am auditory at a conscious level and my husband is kinesthetic at a conscious level, I feel hurt that he is not more interested in dialogue about things that are important to me. Conversely, he wants me to be near him in physical proximity when we aren’t even talking – while I wonder, “Why bother if we’re not going to talk?” Therefore, in the past I have attributed his behavior to a character flaw, when it is possible that it is simply a difference in the ways in which we perceive the world.